It Has Begun
by AmazinglyMediocre
Summary: "Even a well lit place can hid salvation: a map to a one ended maze that never sees the sun." The Avengers find themselves lost in another dimension after a battle with the Vex. Before they can return to Earth, however, they must find each other. Inspired by "It Has Begun" by Starset.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all! This is my first crossover, so please be patient with me. Thanks so much!**

Natasha could feel her heart pounding as one of the creatures swung at her. It was a giant, nearly ten feet tall and surrounded with a purple aura.

"What are these things?" Steve shouted.

"Some kind of robots, though they seem to have a few organic parts. Don't take their heads off: it makes them go berserk." Tony flew overhead, launching rockets at the hordes of bots.

"Man, this is like Ultron all over again." Clint grumbled. Romanoff dodged another swing and drove her staves into the thing's chest. Electricity flickered over its body and the aura seemed to shatter.

"What did you just do?" Rogers hurled his shield, which took the beast's head off. It screeched and slammed a fist into the spy's side, sending her flying. They could see more lights appearing, filling their eyes with static and smoke.

"Kill it!" She screamed, scrambling away from the robot. It was running after her now, teleporting to come closer. It was going to kill her. And then an arrow erupted from the hole left by its head and it crumpled to the ground. "Oh, God," she could see more of the creatures coming, along with smaller ones with long tails. "There's different ones?" She accepted the hand that Steve held out to her.

"We have to keep fighting," the soldier blocked a red laser from one of the smaller creatures. "These things are going to overtake earth if we don't."

"I think it's too late for that," Stark sounded crushed. "They're all over the world, just appearing out of nowhere. It's-they're killing everyone they come across." Natasha looked farther down the battlefield and saw a circular portal. Several monsters appeared out of it and then teleported away.

"I think we need to go through that!" She pointed at the glowing light, only to shield her face as the Hulk tore one of the large ones in half and smashed another into oblivion.

"We have no idea where it goes!" Tony flew overhead, firing rocket after rocket.

"Man of Iron, do not be overcome with fear." Lightning struck and then Thor appeared. "If these beasts are emerging, then we can enter."

"Oh, yeah, like that's a wonderful-" Tony's voice cut off as he disappeard through the portal.

"Tony!" Steve sprinted towards the circle, soon followed by the rest of the team. Romanoff slid into the light and then felt nothing.

"... Hello? Are you awake?" She blinked groggily, seeing the roof of a car above her. It was rusted out and bare of all carpeting, but still distinguishable. "Oh, thank goodness. You're alive."

The spy struggled to sit upright and searched for where the voice was coming from. "Right here," a tiny white object spoke. She reached up and grabbed it.

"What are you? Where's everyone else?" Natasha turned it over in her hand.

"I'm your ghost, in a sense. Not you, but I am a ghost and I belong to you." It floated free from her grasp and looked around. "As for everyone else, I don't know who you're talking about." A distant screech made the tiny ghost turn. "We can figure that out later; you've been asleep for a long time and we kind of need to go."

"What's going on?" She clambered out of the car and found herself in what seemed to be a never ending wasteland. A massive wall towered into the sky on her right, and a highway full of deserted cars stretched into the distance on her left. "Where are we?"

The ghost shook its head. "The Fallen own this place. They want to feast upon your light."

"My light?" She looked down at herself, seeing that she was dressed in skin-tight olive colored armor.

"Yes, guardian. Your light." It was obviously getting tired of her questions. But where was everyone else? They had all come through the portal, so shouldn't they be in the same place? Another scream, this time closer, made her flinch. What was out there? "Now come on," the ghost drifted toward the wall. "It's safer in there." And then it promptly disappeared. Natasha looked around in confusion for a moment before starting in the direction of the wall. "Don't worry, I'm still with you." The ghost seemed to speak from inside of her head.

A diamond appeared in her vision as well, apparently coming from a HUD inside of her helmet. The spy ran after it and soon reached a doorway leading into the massive barrier. A few sets of stairs put her on a catwalk. Everything was getting very, very dark.

"You need a weapon," the ghost appeared above her shoulder and shone a light around them. A pane of glass leaning against a wall showed her reflection; she looked as if she belonged in a sci-fi movie. The tight-fitting armor was mostly white and mixed with green, along with a white hood and a full helmet that hid her face. Romanoff pulled the helmet off and nearly dropped it as she saw her face. She looked like she always had, except for pale blue skin, glowing orange eyes, crimson hair that swept back and to the side, and a black hourglass over her left eye.

"Is something wrong?" Her ghost looked at her, its blue eye searching her face.

"What am I?" She stepped closer to her reflection.

The ghost seemed to cock its head to the side. "What do you mean? You're part of the Awoken race. Don't you know?"

"No, I don't." She touched her face. "I'm not from here, if you can understand. I'm from Earth."

"We're on Earth, Guardian. This is Old Russia."

"You don't get it," she turned to the little thing, "I am not from this time. I was in New York City and some creatures invaded, using teleportation and portals. I jumped in one of the portals with my friends, and then I woke up here."

"The Vex?"

"I don't know what those are," she sighed and pulled her helmet back on. "Whatever, it's okay. I can figure it out later. Where do I go?" Her footsteps echoed around the room as she walked to the exit.

"Well, Guardian, we need to find you a weapon. You're hopeless against the Fallen in this state."

"Call me Natasha," she said as she looked around. They were on a platform that overlooked pure darkness. Her ghost eventually drifted away, muttering something about entropy and hardened military systems and then suddenly there was light everywhere, blinding her for a moment. She could see several creatures scuttle away, up bars or across catwalks and back into the darkness. Fallen?

"Oh, over here. I found a weapon." The ghost was floating above an assault rifle. "I hope you know how to use that," it said as she picked it up and tested its balance. It was bad at best. Stark Industries caught her eye, inscribed into the handle. How was Tony involved in this? "That way," the ghost directed its beam of light down a dingy hallway. At least this one was lit, though it was an orange light that cast odd, disorienting shadows. She padded down the hall and nearly screamed as one of the Fallen dropped from the ceiling. The Awoken fired quickly and blew the thing's head off, spraying black blood everywhere.

"Damn," she breathed as she wiped the stuff off of herself. Natasha didn't have long until another three of the Fallen appeared, letting out their high pitched screams and charging towards her.

"Dregs," her ghost explained while she shot them. One came a bit too close and she instinctively drew a knife from her belt and stabbed it. She had no idea where it had come from, but it was comforting to have as a sidearm. The two continued to progress through the oddly lit halls and soon came across red lasers crisscrossing their path. "Don't touch those if you want to keep your body in one piece. They're trip mines."

"Alright," she ducked down and carefully squirmed under them. "This seems like it should be in _Mission Impossible_ ,"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about,"

"Of course you don't," the spy was finding it easier and easier to talk to her companion. More Fallen dropped from the ceiling and she ducked behind a barrier.

"Use your tracker to find them." As the ghost spoke, a circle appeared in her HUD. It had red bars that she assumed would signal where enemies were. She quickly peeked around the corner and took care of another Dreg. More trip mines had appeared as well.

"Can we just get out of here?" She ducked under another laser and knifed the last Dreg.

"Hopefully soon, though we need a ship."

"What kind of ship?" She looked over at the light as they walked down the corridor.

"Interplanetary," it replied. The Awoken dove to the side as a blue bolt of energy hit the ground next to her. "Wire rifle," the ghost said, "probably a Vandal. Watch out for them: they're sneaky." Romanoff nodded and turned to shoot. As she did, her eyes settled on a large chest-like object. "That's got loot in it. Take care of the Vandal first, though. Those wire rifles don't feel nice."

"I know, I know," she put a few bullets in the Fallen's throat and then ran over to the chest. A shotgun was lying in the bottom of it. "Oh, wonderful," she pulled it out and checked to see if it was loaded.

"Come on, come on, we're running out of time." Her light was looking around uncomfortably. "I really don't like it here."

"I can tell," the Awoken ran past a group of Fallen and into a long ventilation tunnel. Sunlight shone through the fan at the far end and suddenly she was back out in the sunlight. She stared in awe at the spires in the distance, which had space shuttles all over them.

"In the Golden Age, this would have been one of the greatest cosmodromes ever built. Each one of those ships would carry thousands of people out to another planet to create wonderful cities, full of new technology and life. Of course, all of this was ruined when the Darkness took over. That's why the Fallen are here." Her ghost suddenly looked up as a number of ships appeared in the sky. "Speaking of which," it blinked and rotated. "They're here. I've never seen this many so close. We have to move before they find what we're looking for." The light flitted off.

"What are we looking for?" She called as she chased after it. The thing really needed a name.

"I already told you-a ship!" They both halted as several Vandals dropped out of a carrier above them. The things screamed and began to fire. One of the bolts hit Natasha, sending pain racing up her body. She grit her teeth and allowed her training to take over. It wasn't long before all of them were dead on the ground.

"Nice work," her ghost started floating away again. She followed and soon they were entering another building. "We're looking for-oh, here it is." A large hangar opened up before them and then they were staring at a large ship.

"Will it fly?" She crept into the room, her eyes catching on several Vandals and one larger creature.

"I hope," the ghost flew over and cast a beam of blue light onto the cockpit of the ship. Several of the Fallen turned and started to fire, trying to hit it,

"Hey!" Romanoff found herself waving her arms and yelling at them. The distraction worked as each of the creatures directed their baleful stares onto her. "Come get me!" Sparks began to rain down as her ghost disappeared into the cockpit and the spaceship began to lift out of where it was being held above the ground. There was no way she could reach it. Was the little light going to abandon her? She pushed the thought away and aimed at the largest enemy. The ghost wouldn't have brought her back to life or whatever it had done only to steal a ship from the Fallen.

"Watch out!" It called. A rocket fired and then most of the Vandals were on the ground. An odd feeling overtook her as she was lifted off of the ground and then she was in the ship, her body temporarily surrounded in light. They took off into the atmosphere and were soon in orbit.

"Well, this is great." Her ghost-Ranger, she chose to call it-seemed to sigh. "We need a warp drive to get out of here, and guess what? The Fallen already took it."

"Then why don't we go get one? We already stole this."

"I prefer to call it taking back what is ours," Ranger grumbled. "Besides, the only way to go get that dumb drive is to go back down there, and I really don't want to."

"I do," the spy pulled off her helmet and gazed at her reflection. She needed to find her friends, and the only way to do that was to get a warp drive. "I need to find the others, and then we need to go home."

"You are home, Natasha." The ghost looked at her. "You never had a home until now; you were a corpse for hundreds of years."

"That's where you're wrong," she set down her helmet and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm not from here, and I never was a corpse. Like I said: we jumped through a portal."

Ranger seemed almost exasperated. "Fine, fine, you're not from here. I _would_ suggest talking to the Speaker about this, but we don't have a warp drive."

"Then we go get one."

"You're insane." This conversation was going in circles. "Look, I want to get back to the Tower just as bad as you do, but we can't."

"What is the Tower?"

"Home of the guardians, probably where you'll find your friends."

"Then we're getting a drive." The spy stood.

Her ghost turned its eye heavenward. "Why do I even try?"

 **Thanks again for reading! Please leave a review and tell me how I can make this better!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello all! Time for Clint's point of view :)**

"Well, we're back. Follow your HUD and that may show us where the crashed ship is."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." The hunter started to jog toward the diamond. "So this used to be in Russia?"

"Yes, until the Fallen Houses of Devils and Kings took over. Now we just call it the Cosmodrome." The ghost continued to speak even as its guardian stabbed a Vandal. "I wonder if it'll ever be anything else. Of course, we may lose this entirely in a matter of time. The House of Wolves has been scheming, though we don't know what about. The Awoken won't tell us anything: they see it as a sign of weakness to share information like that."

"That's understandable." Clint started to climb a hill, only to be thrown off of his feet by a Sparrow rocketing past. "What the hell?" He exclaimed.

"A rude guardian," his ghost, who he had named "Budapest" explained. "You'll get a Sparrow once we go to the Tower."

"The Tower. Right." The archer nodded and resumed his climb. He could see smoke drifting up, though what from he couldn't tell. "Is that it?"

"Hopefully,"

Barton soon crested the hill and found himself standing over the wreckage of a ship. "That's it, all right." He took aim with his auto rifle and shot one of the Shanks that was buzzing around. Another Shank, two Vandals, and a Dreg later, he was standing on top of the wreck. "Do your thing," he held his hand out towards an exposed piece of circuitry and his ghost appeared.

It spoke again after a few moments of scanning. "Well, it looks like the Fallen have already taken the drive out of this one. That means we're going to have to search for another. I believe we can find something down in the tunnels below, however. There was a transmission and some coding that should guide us." Clint turned as a new objective appeared in his HUD. It led to a small building right down the hill. He could see several Vandals outside as well.

"You sure about this?" He drew his shotgun and ran to the side of the building, just out of the Fallen's sight.

"About as sure as I can be." Barton took a deep breath and then dove back out into the open, throwing a grenade and shooting a Dreg in the face. He pumped the shotgun and took out a Vandal with his next shot. Another one was running away, its body throwing off ashes as it burned. He advanced into the building and stabbed a pair of Dregs before he jumped down the stairs and plunged into darkness. Budapest guided him down a hallway and into a room full of computers. A Dreg and Vandal turned and screeched at him, only to be shot down moments later. He passed through the room and into a smaller one, which had a map projected onto the wall.

"That's the Cosmodrome, right?" He looked around as his ghost scanned a computer.

"Yup." The light snapped up as a noise echoed through the room. "What was that?"

"Not sure. I'll go look." The hunter walked back out the way he had come, clutching his shotgun. Tiny noises and an occasional shuffle led him through a hole in the wall into a sewer. It was nearly too dark to see anything, and he suddenly wished he had brought Budapest. He could see a bit of light farther down the tunnel and started toward it. The sounds became louder as he progressed, and then the tunnel opened out onto a landing. It must have been a subway tunnel at some point, though it was now nothing but a pile of ruin. He could see some stairs ahead and a darker room to his left.

"Hello?" He glanced behind him as Budapest appeared, shining a bright light around the tunnel. Movement to his left drew his attention. A massive creature with yellow armor and three glowing green eyes was staring at him, surrounded by other, smaller beasts. "Oh no," he mumbled.

The monster let out a colossal roar and started to run at him, bringing up a sword that was as long as Clint was tall. The archer turned and ran back the way he had come, feeling the breeze from the blade as it swung down behind him. He snatched his ghost out of the air and gave all he had into just getting away. His boots sucked into the muck in the bottom of the tunnel only to be yanked out again. He sprinted faster and faster, skidded back through the wall, down a hallway, around another corner, up a flight of stairs, another corner, more stairs, and then he was shoving a Dreg out of the way and racing to get out into the open. Another roar rang out and he glanced back to see a glint of yellow coming up the stairs.

The Fallen all turned and screeched in challenge, raising their rifles and blades. Their confidence soon turned to terror, screams ringing out in harmony to the slash of the blade. Barton didn't stop running until he couldn't hear them. He eventually slowed to a halt and put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. Budapest floated up next to him, keeping an uncertain eye out.

"I thought... You said... I couldn't get out of breath." The hunter panted.

"Your systems still require oxygen, just as a human's would. Exos were designed to be as close to a living creature as possible." The ghost seemed to shake itself out.

"So, any idea what that was?" Clint stood and moved his hands to his hips.

"I believe that was a Hallowed Knight."

"A what?"

"A Knight. Hive-born monster. I thought they were still on the moon," Budapest's voice trailed off as he fell into thought.

"Great," the exo let out a long breath and summoned his HUD. "Well, Knight or no Knight, we still need a warp drive."

"Lead the way," his ghost disappeared as he started to jog towards a long building in front of them. He found his way inside and soon entered the room where they had first found the ship.

"Well, where is it?" The hunter drew his auto rifle and shot several Vandals. "What does it look like?" He flinched and nearly shot another guardian who appeared next to him.

"I'd prefer if you didn't shoot me," she pushed his gun away. He could see by the several extra knives she was carrying that she was a Bladedancer. Barton watched her for a moment before turning back to the hangar. He could see something moving around in a gaping hole in the wall, and then a massive Fallen was crawling out and drawing a gun that he had never seen before.

"So, where are you from?" He asked.

"Another dimension, you?" She drew her own auto rifle and took aim.

"Natasha?" The exo winced as a flaming hot bolt hit him. He turned and threw a grenade, causing the giant thing to stumble back. It looked like a larger version of a Vandal.

"Clint?" The Bladedancer tossed her own grenade and fired off several rounds into the thing's head.

"That's an Archon," Budapest sounded more than a little worried. "You sure about this?"

"Does he have the drive?"

"Two of them."

"Then yeah, I'm sure." The Gunslinger emptied a clip into the Archon's chest and rolled away from a volley of bullets it launched. "What kind of weapon?"

"A shrapnel launcher. It deals Solar damage, if that helps."

"Thanks," Clint reloaded and let out another clip, soon followed by one of Romanoff's. "Fancy meeting you here," he called.

"What a wonderful place to see you," she replied. Their combined teamwork soon had the Archon writhing on the ground and going still. Both ran to the body and dug through its foul-smelling robes. "These guys really aren't big on hygiene, are they?"

"Apparently not," Barton stood up straight, holding the drive. "This is it? This is what we were looking for?" He turned to where Budapest was floating. "Are you kidding me?"

"Of course not. These are very important." The ghost retorted.

Natasha broke into the argument. "Do we want to meet back up at the tower? We may be able to find the others there. Besides, I don't think this is the best place to catch up."

"Yeah, definitely." Clint turned back to his light. "You're an idiot. We could have built one of these!"

"No, we really couldn't have." The other guardian and her ghost disappeared. "These things are packed with very important stuff."

"Stuff that we could have salvaged from that other ship!" The hunter pressed a hand to his helmet in exasperation. "This is why we can't have nice things," he grumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing, it's fine, I just needed to let out some steam." Barton sighed. "Beam me up, Scotty."

"Who's Scotty?" Budapest disappeared and then Clint found himself back in the ship. He tugged off his helmet and checked the front of it for damage. The exo couldn't help but pull out the large shard of mirror that he had found and checked his reflection. He knew what was waiting for him, but it was still a wonder to see the form he had taken.

Black metal with a missing chunk above his left eye, which was bright purple, a splatter of purple paint over his right eye, and an arrow tracing down his cheek: that was what he had become. He didn't feel different at all, which was something he hadn't expected. He had expected a far different experience, though that seemed to come from the world that he was living in. He was starting to wonder if it was even possible to escape this place, or if he was forever destined to be a guardian and fight the darkness. It wouldn't be a terrible existence, no, but he still wanted to protect Earth-his earth.

"We're coming up on the Tower now," Budapest said. He hadn't even noticed that they were travelling. The first thing that caught his eye as he looked up was a massive white ball floating above the surface. And by massive, it was truly enormous; covering several miles of land.

"That's the Traveler?"

"Yes, and this is your new home." A tall spire swooped into view. It stood straight with a platform that seemed to lean out into nowhere.

"That's insane," he murmured as he was teleported onto the platform. It overlooked a sprawling city, which he realized was probably the last surviving one on Earth. He moved to stand at the railling at the edge of the grass and gaped at the beauty of it all. Mountains rose up on either side, which were encompassed by a giant wall. Two other towers stood across from each other in the distance, seeming to point toward the Traveler and the sky.

"I don't think this is something you can get tired of," someone said from behind. He glanced back to see a girl with an hourglass over her eye, which was bright orange. "Oh, Clint," she smiled. "Sorry, I didn't recognize you."

"Hey, Nat." He leaned his elbows on the rail and stared back out over the city. "We do look different, don't we?"

The Awoken nodded. "I hope the others aren't too much different."

"You know they will be,"

"Yeah, I know." She sighed. "I'm not sure how we're going to get back."

"I'm not sure if that's the biggest thing right now," he looked down below them, his eyes following the tower as it disappeared into the clouds. "I think they need us here."

"They need us at home more, Clint." She spat the words. "I don't care what's going on here: our Earth is most likely in ruin because of the Vex."

"The Vex?"

"They're what we were fighting, Ranger told me. They're vastly unstudied and basically a mystery to the world, though they are in this dimension as well."

"Then we trash them here." Barton stood up straight. "I need to talk to some people."

"Oh, yeah, the Vanguard and whatever." She followed as he started to walk toward the opposite end of the platform.

"And the Speaker," he turned to the left and broke into a jog. They followed a long hallway and soon found themselves in a similar place, except for a large room in front of them. It was round and, upon further inspection, held a giant gyroscope. A man dressed in all white was waiting for them.

"Welcome, guardians." He gestured at them warmly, though they couldn't see his face. His voice was deep, though quiet. "I am the Speaker. I communicate with and receive messages from the Traveler." He paused and seemed to be studying them. "Is there something on your mind, Awoken?"

Natasha blinked. "I'm sorry, yes, there is."

"Do tell," he clasped his hands in front of him. "The Traveler may have some wisdom to impart."

The spy nodded and let out a breath. "We're not from this dimension. The Vex transported us here, and we want to get back to our home. Is there any way that's possible?"

A long silence fell over them and then the Speaker turned to face the gyroscope. "I'm terribly sorry, guardians, but there is no way. It is simply impossible to leave this place; it's never been heard of. Are you sure that this is what occured, or are you having memories of your past life?"

"We were differrent people on our Earth," Clint spoke up. "Anyways, thank you so much for your time and the help." He started to back towards the door. "We really need to get going. Thanks again." Romanoff shot him a look, glanced back at the Speaker, and then walked after him.

"What the hell was that?" She demanded, grabbing his arm and stopping him. "He knew something else, or he had another thing to say, and you cut him off."

"He had nothing more to say," the archer shook his head. "What he said was probably true,"

"I don't trust him." She crossed her arms. "Something isn't right about him."

"Well, he's the most trustworthy person we've got. And you know what? Maybe he was wrong. Maybe we do have a way out. There's no telling. All that I know is that we need to keep fighting this darkness and exploring, because that's our greatest hope."

Natasha scowled at him for a moment and then her face softened. "Okay." She took a breath. "Okay. We can keep trying."

"Thanks," he quickly hugged her. "When we find the others then we'll have an even better chance."

"Let's just go find the Vanguard. They probably have some junk for us," she cast one last look at the Speaker's haven and then turned away.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the update time; I'm in high school and it's been a rough year homework-wise. Also, as far as the Taken King expansion, I will not be changing any of the characters' subclasses. I'm planning to write a separate fic with three other Avengers using those subclasses. Thanks so much for reading! Enjoy!**

"Well, now that you've gotten your new armor, we can go and check some other stuff out."

"Yeah, uh-huh, yup, we can go as soon as I look like that guy." The warlock pointed at another guardian. The titan was dressed in battle-scarred armor and wore a blue mark that glowed and rippled with some kind of energy. A massive rocket launcher was slung over his back and his gauntlets were covered by a glowing forcefield.

"I'm sorry?" The ghost glanced between the two guardians. "You're a warlock and he's a titan; you can't change your light." His ghost looked at the titan a moment longer. "Besides, he's got all kinds of experience. Anyone who has the Gjallarhorn has seen it all."

"You're kidding, right? I'll just make my own, then. I'll be the greatest titan to ever live."

"I'm not sure about that," the ghost grumbled. "You can make your own titan armor once you learn to be a striker or defender."

"What's the difference? One beats crap up and one doesn't?"

"It's a lot more than that. I'll tell you more about it later; for now we need to return to the Cosmodrome."

"Okay, okay, give me a minute. Jesus, you're a lot more demanding than Jarvis." The warlock allowed the now familiar feeling to over take him as he teleported into his ship.

"Who exactly is Jarvis? Did you have a past ghost?" His own looked jealous, if it was possible for a little robot to feel so. The warlock blinked at him and shook his head.

"Of course not, I just woke up like yesterday." He kept an eye on the little light. "Jarvis was my personal assistant, I guess. He was an AI that I made."

"During the Golden Age?" A tone of curiosity had come into its voice. "Do you remember living then?"

"It wasn't the Golden Age that you're thinking of. I'm not sure what happened, but I was living on a different version of Earth and then things went wrong." The guardian sighed, his respirators giving off a slight whir as they opened and closed. "I'm seeing my name on all kinds of stuff; that exotic gun you showed me, the Stark Regime, that was somehow my creation. I recognized it even though I've never seen it before. The crappy thing you found in the wall had _Stark Industries_ carved into it."

"So you have memories of a time before the Golden Age?"

"No, I have memories of another dimension. I used to be a human and I wore a suit of armor and I fought bad guys and I lived the life." He looked at his reflection in his helmet. A robot stared back at him. "Now I am that suit of armor and I'm lost and I'm still stuck fighting bad guys." He put the helmet on the ground and looked up at his ghost. "I had lots of friends, too, and I'm not sure if they're alright."

"Why wouldn't they be?" The ghost blinked at him.

"Because they were fighting the same things I was and then I was thrown into a portal and I woke up here."

"A portal?" The two ignored a beeping coming from the control panel. They were directly over the Cosmodrome.

"Yeah, a portal. It was spawning these robots and, now that I think about it, they seem like they would belong here. They had energy shields like you have here and they fought with rifles like the ones used in this world." The warlock picked up his helmet again.

"I wonder..." His ghost flitted over to the window. "No, they can't be." He finally spoke again. "I've never heard of inter-dimensional travel. However, those things sound like the Vex. They're war machines of the darkness; they destroy planets and everything in their path. It only took them a few days to turn Mercury into their own planet."

"That's comforting. You're saying my Earth is some kind of machine now?"

"No, no, just speculating." His ghost shook its head. "Anyways, we should drop now. The Cosmodrome is just below us."

"Yeah, probably." Stark found himself on the ground in the Cosmodrome. "So what are we doing now?"

"We're investigating some kind of a power surge in one of the array stations: the Fallen seem to be guarding something and we're going to find out what."

"Great," Tony muttered. He summoned his Sparrow and took off, speeding towards the objective. He flew across a river and crested a hill faster than he ever could have run it.

"Keep going to that building up there," his ghost said. The warlock paused and stared out across the land. It was a huge, flat expanse of nothing but rusting and ruined planes.

"What is this?" He asked.

"The Mothyards," the ghost explained, "this is where many of the Golden Age jets were left."

"Geez," Tony couldn't help but stare at the wasteland.

"We can't stare all day, though. We need to get going: you can stare on patrol."

"Just a couple more minutes." The warlock sat up straight on his Sparrow, feeling it adjust to the shift. He could see another abandoned airfield across a river on his left. The planes looked like they would have flown during his time, though now none of them would ever see the sky again with their broken wings and looted engines. Was he ever going to see his Earth again? Would he see Pepper again? Were his days as an Avenger over?

"We really must get going," the ghost insisted.

"Okay, fine, you just can't let me enjoy anything." Stark leaned forward and pressed the throttle. He found his way across the airfield, narrowly avoiding Fallen and chunks of wreckage. He continued to race up a hill only to jump off of the Sparrow when he saw a Captain ahead.

"Great," he muttered as he pulled his hand cannon out. A Vandal took his first few bullets and he felt a surge of energy when his Super became fully charged. He leapt into the air and hurled his Nova Bomb, nailing the other Vandal and killing the Captain as well. "Did you see that?" He reloaded his revolver as he walked inside. "Is this the place?"

"Yes, it appears to be. I'm getting some strange readings, though. Be careful." Always business, business, business to his ghost. He kept his mouth shut, however. He needed the little light.

The warlock raced through the building, finally coming to a dead end with two Dregs waiting for him. He threw a shoulder into one's chest and blew the other's head off. He looked around the room, taking in the old computers and the garage door on his right. "Is it through there?"

"Possibly," the ghost appeared and flew over to the control panel next to it. "Also, please remember that you are not a Titan and you cannot shoulder charge." It grumbled. Tony felt a sharp pain race across his side and turned to see the Dreg that he had body slammed. It screeched at him and swung its knife again.

"Dude," Stark fired his revolver into its chest and looked over as the gate opened.

"Something is wrong here." His ghost immediately drew closer to him. "Be _very_ careful."

"What makes you think I'm not?" The warlock quickly ran up a flight of stairs and found himself in complete darkness. "Nothing's wrong here," he looked around, using the light from his ghost to see. Strange things were growing on the walls and floor, exhaling black smoke and creating a green glow. "What is this?"

"Hive." Fear was in the ghost's voice as a green portal appeared. Stark blinked as small, twisted monsters appeared from it. They screamed and ran straight for him, their claws glowing with arc energy. He backed away, feeling overwhelmed as the creatures continued to come. It didn't matter how many he shot, more were waiting.

"I could really use a Nova Bomb right now!" He shouted as more Hive appeared, this time with guns. The smaller ones finally let up, only for a bright blue explosion to throw him into oblivion.

Stark woke up outside the garage door. "What the hell was that?"

"The Hive, I told you. A Knight killed you."

"Damn," the guardian shook himself out and drew a fusion rifle. "I'm not dealing with this." He grumbled as he climbed the stairs again.

"Be more careful this time,"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, look where it got me last time, all that jazz." He took aim at the Knight. "We'll see about that." The Hive monster looked over at him as the fusion rifle charged. It staggered back with the force of the shot and let out a roar. "What the hell is this thing?" He fired again and let out a breath as it collapsed into dust.

"Kill the Acolytes."

"Shut up, I know." He switched over to his hand cannon and shot the rest of the Hive.

"Keep going, the power surge is a wizard."

"A wizard?"

"Yes, a wizard. Kill anything on sight." Stark rolled his eyes as he reloaded and then started up another flight of stairs. He soon found light again and his ghost disappeared, receding back into wherever it lived inside his head.

 _Good_ , he thought. The rude little thing would shut up for a bit.

His footsteps echoed down the hallway as he followed it, soon disappearing into a symphony of explosions and screeches as he came upon a battle. Several dregs were fighting a large group of Hive that was headed by a single wizard. It floated around, loosing hateful screams and hurling blasts of arc energy down at the Fallen. Tony ducked behind a wall and took a deep breath. He nearly shouted when his ghost appeared.

"Don't talk to me," he muttered, "I'm trying to focus."

"We don't have all the time in the world." Stark clenched his mouthpiece and grabbed the thing out of the air.

"I am not going to deal with you right now," he hissed. "I said that I am trying to focus and you are not helping at all." He tossed the ghost to the floor and stood up. "I don't need you telling me how to take my every step, you little shit."

The exo drew his weapon and ran out into the open, tossing a grenade into the thick of the fighting. The dregs turned to look at him only to take a bullet to the face. He felt the familiar surge of energy as his Nova Bomb charged, though he didn't use it immediately. He had learned his lesson. The wizard was targeting him now, causing clouds of darkness to spawn around him. He stumbled into one and immediately felt the poison clouding his systems, making his respirators catch and whine and his optics blur and fade. He forced his way out and dove behind a rack of some sort to regain his bearings. The wizard was hiding to regenerate its shields as well. He couldn't die now. He had no idea if his ghost was going to come back, and he knew that his ghost was the only thing that revived him.

"Ghost?" He called. The wizard screamed back in response. A feeling of dread overtook him; he couldn't do much without the ghost. The warlock stood up and leaned against the pillar behind him. He had to finish this; he could worry about his ghost when there wasn't a wizard breathing down his neck. He drew his machine gun and loaded a belt into it. That wizard was going to eat it. He rolled out from behind the pillar and took a knee, aiming for the wizard. The gun kicked hard into his shoulder and the Hive creature tried to hide itself from the shots. Tony jumped up and ran after it. No shields this time. He leapt into the air and gathered his Nova Bomb, hurling it at his enemy. Dust exploded around him as his attack hit home.

Stark dropped to the floor and laid there for what felt like an eternity. He just wanted to go to sleep, to power down, to stop functioning for a while. His eyes slid closed and he wondered if exos could sleep.

The next thing he knew, he was in orbit above Earth. The Traveler shone beneath him as he looked around. His ghost was flitting about, checking the ship's systems.

"Thanks," he mumbled. "I didn't know if you would come back."

"Of course I did," the ghost looked at him. "It's my duty, and I can't leave you. Besides, the sooner we can defeat the darkness, the sooner you'll go back to your dimension and leave me be."

Tony rolled his eyes. "You revived me and now you want to be rid of me?"

"To an extent," the ghost teleported them to the Tower.

"I'm going to call you Happy, I think." Stark nodded to himself. "Yeah, Happy fits."

"Happy?"

"An old friend of mine." Tony walked towards the Vanguard's room. He passed a Titan, this one with a helmet that looked like it had come from ancient Rome. "You know, I think I'm good with being a Warlock. I don't think a Titan can throw energy, can he?"

"Not as far as I know," Happy replied. "Warlocks stand apart because of their intelligence and wisdom. Titans stand apart for their brute strength."

"Cool," Stark stood to the side as his ghost floated over to speak with the Vanguard. He knew that something about his discovery was important, but he wasn't sure what. It didn't matter; Happy would tell him. His eyes wandered the room while he waited, finally settling upon a pair of Hunters. Something about them was familiar, though he couldn't figure out what. He decided that he had probably seen them around the Tower before and pushed the thought out of his mind.

He couldn't ignore them, however, when they approached him. One had an hourglass over her eye and he realized who they were.

"Tony?" She asked.

"Oh my god," he gathered the two of them into a hug in a rare moment of affection. "Have you found the others?"

"No, just us." Clint adjusted his gauntlets. "I don't think it'll be hard to find them, though."

"I sure as hell hope not," Stark muttered.


End file.
